At this time of year, I’m often absorbed in reading about the year that was and the year ahead. Goals, predictions, and nostalgic reviews are read, tweeted and shared in many places like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, and here on this blog. However, this year I headed into the Chistmas break feeling rather unplugged, and that has continued through to tonight. I’m currently on a ski holiday and other than posting a few photos online … Continue reading
I’m a big fan of BYOL – Bring Your Own Laptop to school. The laptop is the new pencil… a tool necessary for an effective education today. I also think that a district-provided laptop, in public education, is not financially feasible. However, supporting families that can not afford to send their child to school with a laptop is supportable, effective and essential to a BYOL program. When I wrote the (intentionally oversimplified) ‘5 Year Technology … Continue reading
The 5 year technology plan: Focus on your INFRASTRUCTURE! If you think you know what tools you will need in 5 years, you are probably wrong. If you are budgeting so that you buy sets of an item over several years, you’ll have a dichotomous challenge: the item will become both cheaper AND less desirable. If your infrastructure can’t support the technology you have, your technology is ineffective. If you don’t invest in a learning … Continue reading
Before: There was a built in validity (not necessarily accuracy) in opening up and reading the information in an encyclopedia. And now: Can the same be said of a web search? Whose job is it to check validity and accuracy now? Before: We watched along as our teachers played dry, (usually humourless) documentaries as we filled in the blanks on our worksheets. And now: Students find, and create, their own videos. Before: We tried to … Continue reading
A colleague and good friend sent this review of The Flickering Mind to me, wanting to hear my rebuttal. Here it is! This outdated book, The Flickering Mind, is based on very poor research, it lacks any meaningful data, and it seeks out the worst of the worst in order to prove a point. How about I come into your class and very selectively choose lessons/examples to give someone a poor impression of you? It … Continue reading
My Administrators PLN
